A number of fasteners have been used in the past for securing or suspending articles on hollow walls, such as, for example, dry walls or plasterboard walls. These walls are thin and produced out of powdery materials so that conventional fasteners, such as screws, nails, etc. are ineffective in supporting all but the lightest of articles hung on the wall. Through the years, the solution adopted to provide secure support for articles on such hollow walls, has been the use of two part supports comprising a combination anchoring member and a conventional fastening member such as screw or bolt which is secured to the anchoring member, once such member has been inserted in the hollow wall. Typical such fastening members are described in the patent art, exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,295,734, 3,431,813, and 4,009,634 among others.
These various fastening members are inserted into the hollow wall usually by first drilling a hole through the wall sufficient to allow for insertion of the enclosing member, and then inserting the anchoring member in the hole. Once the anchoring member is in place, a screw or bolt is employed to either expand a portion of the anchoring member in the wall or to deform the anchoring member so as to provide a back up plate-like arrangement to spread the weight of an article hung on the wall over a larger surface. In both instances, the anchoring member becomes, for all practical purposes, a permanent part of the wall, as removal is difficult and results in damaging the wall.
Recently a variation of the type of fastener shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,295,734 has appeared, in which the fastener is equipped with a pointed end. Insertion is obtained by simply hammering the fastener into the wall, somewhat similar to a nail. While this method eliminates the extra step of hole drilling, it tends to damage the inner and thus invisible, portion of the wall because of its rather wide cross section. This damage consists of the formation of a crater of unpredictable size around the anchoring member due to crumbling of the wall as the fastening member is forced therethrough. Thus, the wall is weakened in the immediate vicinity where a load will be applied.
Thus, even though there are numerous hollow wall fastening members known, there is still need for an inexpensive such member which will provide a reliable support, easy single step insertion, and be removable with minimal damage to the hollow wall.